第39章

The First Kings of the Second Dynasty (A.D.1490to 1509)Narasimha usurps the throne --Flight of the late king --Saluva Timma --Vira Narasimha --Bijapur again attacks Vijayanagar --The Portuguese in India --They seize Goa --Varthema's record --Albuquerque.

In my "Sketch of the Dynasties of Southern India,"published in 1883(p.106),the following passage occurs:--"We now come to the second or Narasimha dynasty,whose scions became more powerful than any monarchs who had ever reigned over the south of India.Dr.Burnell fixes A.D.1490as the initial date of Narasimha's reign,and at present no inion that I can be sure of appears to overthrow that statement.I observe,however,that Bishop Caldwell,in his 'History of Tinnevelly'(p.48),fixes the date of the beginning of Narasimha's ...reign as A.D.1487....WE HAVE YET TO LEARN THEHISTORY OF HIS ACQUIRING THE SOVEREIGNTY OF VIJAYANAGAR AND OUSTINGTHE OLDER DYNASTY."

Nothing has since transpired to throw light on this subject,and the whole matter has remained up to the present in its primeval darkness;but this newly-found chronicle of Nuniz gives us the entire story in most interesting form though I can by no means vouch for its accuracy.It is,nevertheless,a RESUME of the traditional history of the early sixteenth century,written within fifty or sixty years of the events with which it deals.He tells us that Virupaksha Raya ("Verupacarao")was a weak and unworthy sovereign,in whose days large tracts of land were lost to the Muhammadans,including Goa,Chaul,and Dabhol;and this statement,at least,is historically accurate.Virupaksha was despotic,cruel,and sensuous,"caring for nothing but women and to fuddle himself with drink,"so that the whole country was roused to indignation and rebellion.Eventually he was murdered by his eldest son,who in his turn was slain by his brother "Padearao,"in whom the nation merely found repeated the crimes and follies of his dead sire.Disgusted with this line of sovereigns,the nobles rose,deposed their king,and placed on the throne one of their own number,Narasimha --"Narsymgua,WHO WAS IN SOME MANNERAKIN TO HIM."

Nuniz gives us a graphic account of the last scenes;how Narasimha's captain arrived at the city gates and found them undefended;how he penetrated the palace and found no one to oppose him;how he even went as far as the harem,"slaying some of the women;"and how at last the craven king fled.

"After that,Narasymgua was raised to be king....And as he had much power and was beloved by the people,thence-forward this kingdom of Bisnaga was called the kingdom of Narsymga."The problem of Narasimha's relationship to the old royal line has never yet been satisfactorily solved.He belonged to a family called SALUVA,and we constantly hear,in the inions and literary works of the time,of powerful lords who were relations or descendants of his.Thus our chronicle has much to say about the Saluva Timma,whom Nuniz calls "Salvatinea,"who was minister to King Krishna Deva Raya.An inion of the Saka year 1395,which corresponds to A.D.1472--73,speaks of Narasimha as a great lord,but a great lord ONLY,[168]and so does another of A.D.1482--83.[169]In one of A.D.1495--96,however,[170]he is called "MAHA-RAYA,"or the "king."But although the exact date of the usurpation and the exact relationship of the usurper to the deposed king may be difficult to ascertain,the fact remains that Narasimha actually became sovereign about this time,that Muhammadan aggression was stayed by his power and the force of his arms,and that the empire of Vijayanagar was under him once more consolidated.

The account of this period as given by Firishtah differs altogether from that of Nuniz,and gives rise to much confusion and difficulty.And as to the relationship of the succeeding sovereigns,Narasa,Vira Narasimha,Krishna Deva Raya,Achyuta,and Sadasiva,the native inions themselves are totally at variance with one another.Some few points,however,in the general scheme of history of the second dynasty are quite certain,and these may be shortly summarised.The last kings of the first dynasty were recognised down to ABOUT the year 1490A.D.Narasimha and Vira Narasimha ruled till the accession of Krishna Deva Raya in 1509;Achyuta succeeded Krishna in 1530,and Sadasiva succeeded Achyuta in 1542.The latter was virtually a prisoner in the hands of Rama Raya,the eldest of three brothers,at first nominally his minister,but afterwards independent.The names of the other brothers were Tirumala and Venkatadri.These three men held the government of the kingdom till 1565,when the empire was utterly overthrown by a confederation of the five Muhammadan kings of the Dakhan,already mentioned,at the battle of Talikota --so-called --and the magnificent capital was almost wiped out of existence.

With these few facts to guide us,we turn to the chronicles of Nuniz and Firishtah,trying in vain to obtain some points of contact between them as to the origin of the second dynasty --some clue which will enable us to reconcile differences and arrive at the real truth.If we are to be guided purely by probabilities,it would seem that the history given by Nuniz is likely to be the more accurate of the two.His chronicle was written about the year 1535,during the reign of Achyuta;he lived at the Hindu capital itself,and he gained his information from Hindu sources not long subsequent to the events related.Firishtah did not write till about A.D.1607,was not in any sense a contemporary recorder,and did not live amongst the Hindus,but at the court of Nizam Shah at Ahmadnagar.The lengths of reigns,however,as given by Nuniz do not tally with the dates which we obtain from sources undoubtedly reliable.